Adhesive screen printers are well known in the art for the application of various patterns of hot melt adhesive. Such printers are typified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,627,345 and 4,693,179, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Such machines are sold under the trademark MICROPRINT.RTM. by the assignee of the instant invention.
Such devices have in the past tended to be less than totally desirable for a number of reasons. First of all, utilization of such a device in combination with a traditional press requires cutting the press apart between the last print station and the first die cut station. This involves substantial expense and effort and causes substantial concern over the integrity of the equipment after rejoining. This problem is due to the use by all of such manufacturers of such equipment (rotary screen printers) of the three o'clock print position, that is, the print screen roll and the impression roll are located horizontally side by side.
Such devices further suffered from being hard to adjust and set up as well as being difficult to re-configure in the event that it is desired to use a different type screen or the like. Such devices further are not designed for easy screen changes and the like.
Such earlier devices are also difficult if not impossible to reverse printing direction without substantial reconfiguration and rebuilding.